Hard for BJP to win Goa polls without RSS: Digvijaya

Panaji: Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh today said BJP would find it difficult to win the upcoming Goa elections without RSS, from where the party’s “foot soldiers” come. “I was shown a video clip wherein (RSS rebel leader Subhash) Velingkar used such words against BJP, which I can’t even mention. This is something that you will see because I always felt that RSS is the core of the BJP,” the All India Congress Committee general secretary told reporters. “Minus RSS, BJP will have a problem (in Goa), because foot-soldiers usually come from the RSS. This election (in Goa) appears to be more of (Manohar) Parrikar than BJP or RSS,” Singh said. “It is more of an election of Manohar Parrikar individually, rather than that of BJP or RSS,” he added. Velingkar, an RSS veteran in Goa, was removed by RSS after he took a strident stance against the ruling BJP over the issue of medium of instruction and even showed black flags to the party chief Amit Shah at Bambolim during his visit there on August 20. On October 2, Velingkar floated Goa Suraksha Manch (GSM) and vowed to defeat the BJP in the coming Assembly polls. Majority of former RSS workers from Goa are with Velingkar and had resigned after his ouster. GSM has now formed a “grand alliance” with Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and Shiv Sena to fight the state polls scheduled on February 4.